Mixed Code Image Encoding for Data Capacity and Authorization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image codes, such as barcodes and QR codes, face challenges in conveying multiple layers of information efficiently, including data updates and user authorization, due to limited data capacity and the need for new code generation with each update, as well as difficulties in decoding and recognizing the information contained within.
Innovation Solution
A mixed code is created by combining two code images, where one image encodes basic information using colors, shading, or patterns, and the second image encodes additional information with changes in color and brightness, allowing for overlapping and differentiation between the two, enabling easy generation and decoding of combined images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If watermarking information is embedded in an image code, then user authorization and copyright protection are provided, but the code cannot be decoded using only the watermarking information and remains undisclosed
Solution Approach 1:
The code image is divided into multiple regions: a first region containing a first code that can be decoded independently, and a second region containing a second code that provides additional information. This segmentation allows partial decoding without the entire code while maintaining security through the second code region.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent embeds a second code within or alongside the first code region, creating a nested structure where the second code contains additional information that supplements the first code. This nested arrangement enables layered information delivery where inner codes depend on outer codes for full interpretation.
2Device complexity
If a single code image is used, then the code structure is simple, but the amount of data that can be expressed is limited and requires new code generation for each update
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple code images into a single composite code image, merging the first code and second code into one visual structure. This consolidation increases data capacity while maintaining a unified appearance that resembles a single code, avoiding the need to generate entirely new codes for updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds an additional information dimension by incorporating the second code region with supplementary data. This dimensional expansion allows the code to express more information without fundamentally changing the basic code structure, enabling updates through content modification rather than structural redesign.
3Quantity of substance
If color barcode is used to increase information expression, then the number of ways to express information increases, but it remains a simple combination of colors and barcode pattern
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different code structures and encoding methods to different regions of the code image. The first region uses one type of code structure while the second region uses another, allowing each region to be optimized for its specific information type. This local differentiation increases information expression capacity without requiring uniform complexity throughout the entire code.
Data Source
AI summary
A mixed code, and a method and apparatus for encoding the same are provided. The mixed code includes a first code image region storing a first code image obtained by encoding first information using color, shading, or a combination thereof, and a second code image region storing a second code image obtained by encoding second information using color, shading, or a combination thereof. The first code image and/or the second code image includes the results of encoding interpretation information, construction information, error control information, and code direction information. The mixed code is made by adjusting the difference in color and brightness between the first and second code images to a predetermined level and combining these images.